Object 40: Bronze Bust of Admiral Richard Byrd

While the Navy was building its new steel battleships, and airplanes were in their earliest stages of development, polar exploration, long a hallmark of the Navy, was in its heyday. Two of the Navy's great polar explorers, Admirals Byrd and Perry continued to push north and south from the late 19th century through World War I and beyond. Today's object, a bronze bust of Admiral Byrd, helps take us back to the days of the first explorers to reach the poles.